


In My Veins

by ferix79



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Minor Spoilers, Not Shippy, Vomiting, could be seen as friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5164970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferix79/pseuds/ferix79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sorey and Rose stumble into Heldalf's domain far too early.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In My Veins

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else ever run into Heldorf on Great Camelot Bridge? Me too. I was very confused.
> 
> A little fic idea that wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote it.

“That guy said Mayvin was headed towards Great Camelot Bridge, right? Lets go check it out!”

It’s another beautiful, sunny day in Pearloats pasture—sunny now that the cardinal has been defeated, of course—and Sorey is heading towards a new location once again. They have yet to visit the massive bridge so, like every time the group comes across some place new, Sorey and Mikleo are debating whether they will come across anything of interest there. 

“It’s apparently very old, though it wasn’t in the celestial record.” Mikleo’s voice echoes through both his and Rose’s minds, “I don’t think we’ll find anything of major note, but it’s always worth a look, right?” 

Lailah hums in agreement while Dezel chooses to stay silent on the matter. They all feel Edna’s smirk, but the earth seraph refrains from poking fun at Mikleo. Rose, however, can not help herself and the assassin’s snide jab sets off a string of archaeology-related puns from both Edna and Lailah. Sorey can’t help but smile, but sends an affectionate feeling Mikleo’s way. The water seraph returns the gesture as the mind-banter continues. 

The six of them are so distracted that they never see the change in domain coming. 

Sorey stumbles and his knees slam into the ground. The seraphs are gone, he forgets for a moment what they were even talking about before, but he reaches, reaches out into the depths of himself and beyond trying to feel them again. He knows they’re there, they’re right there, but then his determination is gone. His arms are shaking beneath him, struggling to even hold him up. The domain makes everything exhausting. 

Even breathing, it seems, because as he gets his wits about him Sorey hears someone panting like they’ve just run a mile. Another moment and he realizes it’s his own ragged breath. Pushing himself back to sit up, he tries to calm his breathing, but his efforts only end in stuttering gasps. Better than hyperventilating, he supposes, but his heart is still beating too fast and he feels the nausea building. This is ending up just like last time, in Gaivend Basin. At least Rose is here with him, again. 

Rose. He finds her hunched over a few feet away. She looks a little ill, but probably not half as bad as he looks at the moment. She braces her hands on her knees, looks up at him with dazed eyes, and then stumbles over, grabbing hold of his hand to haul him off the ground. 

“You’re all right, you’re all right,” she mumbles, and he’s not sure if she’s saying it for herself or for him, “C’mon, no use in stayin’ here…” 

The world spins after she hauls him off the ground and Sorey can’t understand how he’s still standing when the very earth beneath his feet is on an angle. It feels like his arms are flailing for purchase, but in reality Rose pulls one arm over her shoulder to steady him while his forehead falls against her other shoulder. There’s a soft pressure against the top of his head. It’s Rose, he realizes, resting her head against his. 

“Yeah, let’s just take a minute, o great shepherd. This is…this is…shit…” She trails off, and it dawns on him that she’s never felt this before, this total cut off from the seraphim. In the beginning Rose was skeptical about their seraph companions, but now, far into their journey, connecting with the seraphs felt as natural breathing. Add on that he is now connected with four seraphs rather than three, and Sorey can not even imagine how Rose is feeling. 

“Shit, Sorey…!” She straightens up suddenly, bracing an arm around his shoulders and nearly dragging him backwards. At least someone’s got their wits about them, floats through his mind as he shuffles his feet back to find his balance. Gingerly, he pushes off of Rose and turns to face whatever was behind them. 

Three octopus-like enemies blocked their path back to the fields. They were both outnumbered and out leveled. He and Rose could feel the thick malevolence oozing off of the beasts—there was no way they were going to defeat them, not in their current condition. 

Rose glances over to him, “You can stand?” Though exhausted, the determination is coming back to her eyes. She would not let their journey end here, and neither would he. 

He gives her a solid nod and they both push off each other. His stance was weak, but he draws his sword regardless. Rose’s daggers are out of their sheaths in an instant and she positions herself low to the ground. One of the octopi begins to cast an arte, and the two humans charge. 

\-----

The last time Sorey had been disconnected from the seraphs, he had been out cold when the connection was reestablished. His reunion with Lailah, Edna and Mikleo was a more gentle and gradual one, not unlike waking up from a nap. He did not think that being conscious the whole time would make much of a difference. 

The difference—at least on his end, he did not have time to think of Rose—is less like being gently woken up and more like being slammed into with a horse cart. As soon as they scramble out of the domain the seraph’s powers come rushing back through his veins. The rush throws his senses for a loop, and after the surge of power comes a crushing wave of adrenaline laced with anxiety. His heart feels like it is going to beat out of his chest. Where were the enemies? Hadn’t they just defeated them? Sorey normally felt the rush of the seraph’s power in difficult battles, so he was almost conditioned to expect a life or death battle afterwards.

But now things were happening out of order, and Sorey’s senses were going haywire. Where were the seraphs again? After the adrenaline came the emotions. Not his emotions, but those of his now reconnected comrades. He braces his hands against his temples as he feels the last bit of malevolence slip away. The connection is fully reestablished, and the avalanche of emotions hits him like nothing he’s ever felt before. 

“Sorey! Are you alright!”

“What happened, where did you go!?” 

“Rose! Rose? Where is she? Is she okay?”

“Everyone stay calm, give him time to breathe…” 

Concern, confusion, rage, fear, relief and even joy rip through his body, overwhelming his senses. It is as if the seraphs are bouncing and rebounding off the walls of his being, energy and emotion climbing more and more by the second. Somewhere in his thick tangle of emotions he is beyond glad to have them back, but right now he needs them out out out. 

In one fell swoop, all four seraphs exit his mind and phase into the physical world. The sudden feeling of emptiness—but still connected at the edge of his mind—pushes him past his limit. He has trouble remembering what happens next, but when he comes back to himself he’s being held up by Mikleo as he empties the contents of his stomach onto the grass of Pearloats Pasture. 

They had a big meal last night at the inn, and Sorey is regretting it now. Mikleo helps to keep him from collapsing into the puddle of his own sick, whispering gentle encouragement into his ear and running a soothing hand along his back. When finally, finally nothing but sour bile comes from his heaving, the water seraph pulls Sorey back into his lap and uncorks a water skin. He doesn’t think he can stomach anything right now, but water to wash away the sour taste in his mouth sounds inviting. With Mikleo’s help he takes small sips.

Rose is half held up by Dezel, one arm around his shoulders to support her, but the other trying to push him away at the same time. “I-I’m fine, we even beat those hellions without you guys, right?” Her speech slurs slightly and Dezel’s patience is wearing thin as she tries to take a few steps away from him. When one of her knees buckles he’s there to break her fall, as always, and lower her to the ground. 

“We almost lost you guys. In a second, everything was gone! There was no way to find you, no way to help you…” he growls in frustration. Rose, still trying to brush the whole thing off, reaches up and pats his cheek.

“Dezel, I don’t think you could find me in broad daylight technically, so…” 

“Rose, take this seriously!” he growls again, but there is no bite behind the words. His voice is desperate, pleading, but with who he does not know. All he knows is that he almost lost her, how could he have been so foolish, so inattentive…

“I agree,” Edna chimes in, “Let’s be more aware of huge malevolent domains next time before you idiots stumble face first into kittybeard, okay?” Edna quips, unbuckling her parasol with a guarded scowl. Lailah shoots her a reassuring smile. 

“Edna, be nice. They’ve been through a lot today.” The fire seraph giggles when Edna doesn’t respond, but turns away from the group instead. Her parasol can’t hide the tension in her shoulders. 

“We need to get going,” Mikelo says, and Sorey groans in protest when the seraph stands and forces him to sit up on his own, “These two need a real bed in an inn. Plus, we can’t risk any more attacks out here.” 

“But how will we get them to the inn? I don’t think the innkeeper will take well to two floating humans trying to get a room,” Dezel protests, though he doesn’t disagree with Mikleo.

“We can carry them until we’re closer to Pendrago,” Lailah offers, “It will take quite some time to get to the gates, and they can rest on our backs in the meantime. Once we’re near the city I’m sure at least one of them will be able to walk to the inn and get a room.”

Dezel only hums, pausing for a moment as he considers it, then immediately begins gathering up Rose in his arms. A small smile creeps over Lailah’s features at his sense of duty. It is admirable, to say the least. Mikleo crouches down and says a few quiet words to Sorey. Whatever the exchange is, it is enough to convince the shepherd to meekly wrap his arms around Mikleo’s shoulders and let the seraph lift him off the ground and onto his back. The water seraph turns and nods at Lailah, signaling he is ready to go. The shepherd draped across his back nearly dwarfs him, and Lailah is about to ask if he needs help when Edna suddenly appears at her side. 

“Stupid Meebo, taking all the burden.” She says, voice deadpan as always, “Looks small, but he’s more than strong enough to carry that idiot.”

If Edna is sure that Mikleo can carry Sorey, than that is enough for her. She gives Edna a gentle, barely there pat on the head before falling into step behind the boys as they set off toward Pendrago. She and Edna keep watch from the back while Mikleo and Dezel focus on scanning the horizon, human companions nestled safe in their arms.

**Author's Note:**

> I know in the game Sorey and Rose getting cut off from the seraphs was explained like ‘Sorey and Rose can’t hear them, but the seraphs are still there’. I always imagined it differently, as if both the humans and seraphs are completely cut off from each other, almost like the seraphs are stuck in some kind of inbetween and, of course, very concerned about their human companions. I was expecting a much more emotional reunion scene after if first happened to Sorey in Glaivend Basin, to say the least. 
> 
> Also weh Im bad at writing fight scenes. So no fighting here.


End file.
